Story Archives

by Gio Willis-Barela

I'm an average person just like you. I have four wheels that's very
important to me too.

Yeah, I have a job that I have to work at to survive, but I have to go from
place to place in order to get by. My pay? Well, let's just say it's lower
than minimum wage.

My family and I we're uncomfortable at this stage. I'll take anything though
in order to feed my child. Some days we go without eating, period, I won't be
in denial.

We use our wheels to carry our cans and our bottles because "recycling is the key"that's our motto.

"Your house, Your clothes, how do you wash up? Where do you sleep?"

"Our bodies and our clothes are all washed in the same filthy, dirty
sink.

Nights that we can't get warm resting grounds, the concrete is where we sleep.

By now you probably figured out that our family are one in many who are
homeless, yes, homeless. Holding a sign ummm, people don't care.

One out of 10 cars may give me their change, the other 9 may or may not look at me, but, definitely will never share. Yes, we're homeless, there's no doubt, but all we depend on in this world is Jesus to help us out.

by Tiny

I'm not sure

when I stopped..

grievin'

or see-ing

or believ-ing

that the pain of poverty would not

STOP..

un-til

I could

Start

talkin'

and fightin'

and rightin'

what's

NOT..

by Kaponda

While the oath of office was being administered to the statesman during his inaugural ceremony at Yerba Buena Gardens, I was initiated into a notorious institution by his secret drug force agents. They continued to mangle each of my arms until I buckled over like still water contorted by a vicious current. As the president of the United States had ended his long-distance congratulatory speech to the first-ever African-American Mayor of the City and County San Francisco, I was being hoisted from the ground by Sergeant Miller and hustled to the Hall of Justice by Sergeant Lofton to a cell in which I had been selected to spend the next year of my life.

"You are gone forever!" stated an irascible Sergeant Lofton, watching blood trickle from one of his two arms used in his heavy-handed assault on me as I walked down Sixth Street on that January 8, 1996 I could sense his consolation from having bent my left thumb until it almost touched my elbow, as I wore handcuffs. The civil rights of many people were trampled upon by the Willie Brown Sweep, as it was later dubbed, since it appeared to have been coordinated to occur durin his inaugural ceremony.

Aware of the Three Strikes initiative approved in 1994 to create fixed determinate prison sentences for people who re-offend, Sergeant Lofton knew that his threat to cast me into perpetual oblivion was supported by a mandate by voters of California and upheld as constitutional by the courts of California. The authority to make sentencing decisions have devolved from the courts and juries to cops and district attorneys as a result.

Now the District Attorney of San Francisco has decided to preclude a man who was recently convicted of receiving stolen goods from ever seeing the light of day by exercising the power vested in him to invoke "Three strikes and you’re out." This decision by Terence Hallinan confounded many people because he has expressed strong opposition to imposing three strikes to nonviolent offenses. In one of the first cases presented to Hallinan involving Freddie Lee Williams, Hallinan is quoted in an article by Reynolds Holding of the San Francisco Chronicle, dated Sunday, November 3, 1996. In this article, Hallinan expresses his attitude concerning three strikes by stating that, "If we did the three strikes, that would be the same as a sentence for murder. But the jury had just made a decision that it (Williams’ crime) was manslaughter."

But in the case decided Friday, Troy Hayles, who had earlier been acquitted of murder, was convicted only of receiving stolen property. Those goods had belonged to 70-year-old Joyce Ruger, who was murdered more than two and one half-years ago at 719 Webster Street in the Fillmore district of San Francisco, a murder that has remained indelibly fastened in the memories of many Fillmore residents.

"I didn't know the late Joyce Ruger personally," stated Bishop Valentine of the New Christian Fellowship Church, located two doors from the fourplex Ruger owned and lived in. "As I understood it, she was like a neighborhood watch person trying to take care of her community. But the stuff that is going on in the neighborhood is so rough and tough that it takes more than just one person to fight this thing."

In my case, Sgt. Lofton had been aware that I had no violent cases on my record when he taunted and interrogated me in an effort to get me to cooperate with him. He wanted me to inform him how the transaction of a $10 rock of cocaine happened between me and the person from whom he claimed I had purchased it.

I asked Bishop Valentine what he thought about the District Attorney's decision to invoke the Three-Strike statute in the case of Troy Hayle, and did he think that the decision was imposed, in part, because of Hayles refusal to cooperate with the police?

"If the District Attorney said that he would only invoke the Three-Strikes sentence for violent offenders, and this individual had nothing to do with it, then there should be an alternative other than the third strike. But if there is more to the case that they are concealing, then light needs to be cast on the the facts. The District Attorney has to justify the harsh sentence that is being imposed upon this man."

"Three Strikes should not be imposed because of the decision of a person not to cooperate, because we are protected by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. If that is the case, and Hallinan's decision was based on Hayles' refusal to cooperate, then that is like retaliation because he will not speak to what is going on," concluded Bishop Valentine.

Opponents of charging a nonviolent offense as a third strike cannot understand why the District Attorney had elected to use Three Strikes against Troy Hayles.

"They were unable to get language that would make it a third strike only if it was a violent felony," stated Stephen Bingham of the National Lawyers' Guild.

Having vowed publicly and throughout his campaign never to use the Three Strikes statute in cases that involved nonviolent offenses and acknowledging the draconian language, and that it could not be applied fairly, why did Terence Hallinan backdown on his promises to the people of San Francisco by imposing the three-strikes statue in the case of Troy Hayle, the man who was charged with receiving stolen goods? During the weekly Community Newsroom at POOR Magazine, the Director of Families with a Future, Ida McCray, talked about her reasons why she thought the District Attorney elected to relegate Hayle to the house of jackals.

"This case is politically charged because Joyce Ruger was a wealthy woman who had several houses one of which was on Webster Street! This is very reminiscence of the antebellum laws in the South where some black man had to hang from some tree because some white person got killed. The jury found that there was no evidence that linked Troy Hayle to the murder of Joyce Ruger...," stated McCray.

Sergeant Lofton knew that I would take the high ground and preserve the one quality that I had never in life compromised -- my honor. Conversely, I knew that Sergeant Lofton would also manufacture a statement that would satisfy the "three strikes and you’re out" sentencing guidelines. He did not disappoint me, as he charged me with assault on two police officers because of the injury to his partners that resulted after they had barreled into and mauled me.

According to McCray, Hallinan had attempted to jostle Hayle into renouncing his principles by giving him a "testify or else" ultimatum which was probably the reason Hallinan was compelled to apply three strikes in the case of Hayle.

"He [Terence Halliinan] decided to use his ‘discretion’ in this case. And using his discretion is to convict Troy Hayles, who did not cooperate with police and was unable to testify, and who was unable to be uaed. He was not the murderer, and the office of the District Attorney knows that he was not the murderer. But he is being used as a scapegoat by that office. ‘We are going to hang some,’" stated Ida McCray.

Have the political winds in San Francisco shifted so drastically that the ethics of extrajudcial decisions are the issues around which interest revolves. I asked Matt Gonzales of he San Francisco Board of Supervisor about the Troy Hayle matter and whether there has been a major shift of attitudes around three strikes?

"I am opposed to the use of three strikes in any nonviolent case," Gonzales stated with absolute resolve.

DeShawn (DeFresh) Blake, a rapper, and resident of the Fillmore district in 1998 and was just released from San Quentin Penitentiary, provided a personal perspective to arbitrary sentencing.

"I feel that if he did not go out and commit a violent felony, then he should not be given that much time. That is a long time to be away from your family and the people who care about you." The mother of Troy Hayle had passed away during his time awaiting trial, and his wife and sister attended his trial.

Had I known the magnitude of authority at the disposal of undercover cops like Miller and Lofton and the push to fill the growing prison industrial complex with my body and your money, I would have struggled even harder to avoid the one year of jail time to which I was sentenced.

According to the latest statistics released by Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes, "the California Department of Corrections projects that the second- and third-strike prison population will exceed 55,000 by 2002; nearly 75 percent of second and third strikes are for nonviolent and non-serious offenses; the most common "strike" charges are drugs, theft and burglary."

According to Ida McCray, "To convict someone who is nonviolent sends the wrong message. I think what has happened to San Franciscans is that they have been placed in jeopardy because as soon as that news hits the community, for those who are criminal minded -- we are dealing with the heart when we see someone one-on-one. When these men who receive their third strike go to prison -- and this is what a lot of people don't want to know -- they will have to learn to kill. They will have to learn to kill because Troy Hayle will go to a Level-4 institution. People with that amount of time go to a Level-4 institution. So we are going to send people who are nonviolent in the first place to institutions where they are going to have to either kill for their life or become subject to something else."

by Jordan Fletcher, PNN intern

What words can adequately convey a cry for help? Which episodes, what details do you choose to describe your ongoing struggle for justice when every event of every day is a shivering reminder that the odds, paperwork and government bureaucrats are lined up against you?

Debbie Gilman wrings her hands together over and over and shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Her chest is forced out, her shoulders back and her head are held straight as she tries to piece together the details of her situation. For the past four years, she has been the victim of systematic discrimination and abuse by housing and social service authorities in two counties. For four years she has struggled fruitlessly to obtain social services and housing accommodations for herself and her son. Just listening, I feel overwhelmed.

Ms. Gillman’s presence at the office of POOR Magazine is her latest effort in an ongoing struggle to obtain the proper care for her son, William Jackson. In 1997, William, who is schizophrenic, was released from a care facility in Berkeley after one month despite the recognition by his doctors that he was not fit to be at home; there just wasn’t space for him anymore.

With her son out of the hospital, Debbie was forced to provide the constant care and supervision he required. However, some days the task of caring for herself, much-less her son, was too much for her. She sought a full time in-home care provider for William. She sought a housing upgrade from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom in order to accommodate the care provider. Both requests were denied. Debbie and William were barely surviving on Debbie’s own general assistance--just $200 a month. With the mounting pressures and responsibilities Debbie became unable to work herself. She was forced out of her home San Leandro by her landlord and moved up to Fairfield. There she continued to apply for care providers and a housing upgrade. Solano county has cut its funding for public legal defense, however, and Debbie was forced to pursue her mental disability and housing discrimination suit unaided.

Ultimately, Fairfield approved William for 195 hours of care per month and gave 64 to Debbie. The County tried to appeal Debbie’s allotment, however, arguing that her panic attacks were caused by asthma, not psychological problems. "We should both be getting the maximum allowance of 283 care hours per month," Debbie said. Indeed, in the past two years she has been involved in 2 car accidents, one of which left her in a body cast. Her list of ailments includes back problems, asthma, stress, panic attacks and major depression. Social service regulation say that an applicant must have psychological disabilities in order to be eligible for the full home care allotment.

Despite receiving some money for home care, Debbie has made little progress in her housing application. "I think HUD messed up and now they’re trying to cover themselves," she said.The Department of Housing and Urban Development in San Francisco said her case was closed in September after it found no evidence of discrimination. But Debbie says she provided them with ample proof to obtain Reasonable Accommodation. HUD argued that unless she had documents proving that she needed 24 hour care she was ineligible for a housing upgrade. Debbie responded by providing several boxes full of evidence. The HUD investigator said he’d look into it when he got the chance. He said he would get back to her.He still has not

Often, Debbie went to argue her case unassisted. But her disorganized thinking and tendency towards panic attacks proved a great impediment.An administrative law Judge once asked her directly, "Do you understand how insane you are?" She clearly needed help advocating for herself, but Solano County recently cut all funding for public legal aid. Ultimately, Debbie’s persistence in pursuing her case had frustrated county bureaucrats. They didn’t want to talk to her any more, and they tried to push the matter aside.

Another failure in social service provision in Solano county is that patients must find their own care providers. Having been robbed by the last four providers she’d found for herself and her son, Debbie is understandably wary at the prospect of a new stranger entering her life. Luckily she has Russ.

Russ accompanied Debbie to the POOR offices. He had been Debbie’s care provider at one point, but now he appears mostly as a friend. A calm man, he has a decidedly stabilizing effect on her, and knows the details of her discrimination suits against the Hayward and Fairfield housing authorities. "we found out that they [Alameda County] discriminated against her too. They hid old documents...we had all the originals, and the investigator would look in their files and then look at ours--we had three times as much documentation as them."

Yet the availablity of a close ally such as Russ exposes Debbie to the catch-22 of home care support, because support agencies refuse to pay for care providers who are "friends." Such regulations serve only to undermine the most stabilizing relationship in Debbie's life.

Over the past four years, others have tried to help Debbie. ECHO Housing in Hayward helped her file the lawsuit. The Center for Independent Living tried to help as well, but as she stated, "they dropped the ball." She has had several sympathetic doctors who understand her situation and have written letters on her behalf. She has been granted a care provider for a limited duration, but must to reapply for that allotment whenever given notice. Mostly, Debbie is alone in her day-to-day struggle for adequate housing and care for herself and her son. Just relating this story to us has gotten her worked up into a anxious state. "I’m in the middle of all these different emergencies, and its just me. And they want me to get everything together...you can’t come take on my life because you don’t realize, you don’t live it."

Home care aside, to this day William still receives few social services. Social Service officials have been to the house for repeated psychological assessments, and Debbie fears they want to discontinue what little support he does receive. She suffers with a mother’s knowledge that her son lives with severe depression. "He’s schizophrenic now. I think my son could be so much more, if only he were getting services.

Postscript; As of March 5, 2001, Debbie’s son has lost all of his care provider hours due to the fact that Debbie has still recieved no legal representation from the county and has to represent herself in court.

by Tiny and Ronnie Stevens

He was standing there, his swollen fingers holding onto the wrought iron grate in front of the building. As he opened his chapped lips into smile - one proud tooth glistened out of a dark mouth

"Join us" I yelled into him while clutching my banner.

"Stop the Unfair Evictions" The group of several hundred marchers yelled in unison behind me.

I was part of a march against evictions organized by Just Cause Oakland. We had stopped in front of 1918 San Pablo, The Westener Hotel - one of several locations slated for "renovation" (read gentrification) i.e., the destruction of a community in the name of improvement.

The building was the color of soiled egg cream with dark brown trim. The Westerner - Daily..Weekly..Monthly was hastily painted in chocolate letters on the side...

"What’s your name?," I called in to the man at the gate.

"Ronnie" He answered slowly

"You know, the city is planning to tear this building down" I whispered to him.

He shook his head slowly from side to side- "I know", he mouthed the words silently.." I know..."

"Come in to POOR Magazine- tell your own story - fight back...you are not powerless in all of this..."

As the march continued on and I waved goodbye to Ronnie, I remembered Boona Cheena's (from B.O.S.S.) words to me at the rally that proceeded the march, " We have to organize immediately to prevent this (The Westener) eviction - rally's are great but that's not enough, we can't let these kinds of evictions happen at all- we can't let more poor folks be swept out of Oakland."

Ronnie

I don't have many friends, in fact, I don’t have any.. excepting John. He doesn't say much and he moves very slowly, I think he is getting older and each day it shows more and more- even his antennas move slower than usual. John is a cockroach, and my roommate at the Westerner Hotel - the same hotel that the city of Oakland plans to demolish which will make the quality of my already meager life even worse.

Since I lost my job several years ago due to a disability, I have been addicted to heroin on and off for the last ten years. Somewhere in all of this I lost my nerve to keep trying.

And yet, I wake up every day and buy food, cigarettes, paper towels and toilet tissue, and with a rigid regularity, pay my rent. In other words, in some way, I contribute to society.

This place (The Westener) isn’t much to look at but it’s mine- a roof- that I can afford. A bed that is inside and a toilet, that I am allowed to use. I have been homeless, and I don’t want to be homeless again. If I am evicted, I really have nowhere else to go.

Mayor Jerry Brown wants to revitalize Oakland’s downtown by building housing for 10,000 new residents. This "10k plan is designed to attract new retail and entertainment to create a bustling urban atmosphere. But who will be bustling? While the new housing is targeted to households with incomes of $75,000 to $100,000 and more, low income people are being evicted and displaced from their long-time homes. Nonprofit organizations and social service agencies serving the homeless and very low income are being told they are no longer welcome downtown. And the city refuses to enact a Just Cause Eviction ordinance that would protect tenants citywide from unfair evictions.

The centerpiece of the 10k effort is a proposal from Forest City Enterprises, a major national developer from Cleveland, to build 2,000 new housing units in an area the city has termed "Uptown," the triangle between Telegraph and San Pablo Avenues, 17th and 20th Streets. Yes, there are vacant and underutilized parcels of land in this area, but there is also a
community of residents and the businesses and agencies that serve them. The Downtown Foodmart at 20th and Telegraph housing pizza, Mexican food, and donut shops, was closed several months ago. Tenants of the 34 residentential hotel rooms at the Westerner Hotel on San Pablo Avenue recently got notice that their evictions are coming soon.

The Just Cause Oakland coalition supports bringing new residents, new businesses and entertainment venues to downtown Oakland. But that process can and must be done in a way that maintains opportunities for low income residents, downtown workers, artists, nonprofit organizations, social service agencies, and neighborhood-serving businesses to preserve Oakland’s unique cultural and economic diversity.

The following are a list of the stops on the eviction tour.

The Just Cause Eviction Tour;

First Step

First Step provided shelter, meals, employment assistance, housing assistance, and substance abuse treatment to approximately 234 Oakland residents per year. Licensed by the State Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs, First received referrals from hospitals, social service agencies, the police department and others. On September 25, 2000, this facility was forced to close when the new owners increased monthly rent by $1,000. To date, the gap created by the loss of First Step’s to the substance abusing homeless population, and the community has not been filled.

Oakland Homeless Project

Oakland Homeless Project provides emergency housing for severely and persistently mentally disabled clients. It can accommodate up to 25 people for an average of 60 days. Operated by Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), the program’s services include safe, clean short-term housing, meals, access to showers and laundry facilities, crisis counseling and interventions, case management and mental health services.

More Public Radio

More Public Radio is a nonprofit broadcast organization that provides alternative programming and access to broadcast media. As a community-based station focused on the needs and growth of its listeners, More Public Radio provides exposure to portions of community who normally have no outlet on the airwaves. More Public Radio airs Jazzbeat Music (a combin- nation of modern and traditional jazz), as well as elements of R&B, soul, new jack swing, world rhythm, blues and gospel.

Westerner Hotel

The City of Oakland purchased the Westerner Hotel last summer as part of a group of parcels they are assembling for Forest City Enterprises’ "Uptown" development. City Council authorized the purchase and relocation of existing tenants, using Oakland Redevelopment Agency funds, with the caveat that replacement units would have to be provided. Thus far, no new residential hotel units, have been provided, yet tenants have been notified that they are about to be evicted. The City has promised some relocation benefits, but tenants are concerned that the funds will not be enough to afford even other substandard hotel rooms. Tenants are searching through the City’s list of recommended residential hotels, but so far there are no vacancies to be found.

St. Mary’s Center

The St. Mary’s Center provides an incredible array of social services for downtown Oakland’s older homeless residents. Their daily senior drop-in center serves more than 100 people a day with varied programs; assistance with money management and dealing with government red-tape; and general case management. St. Mary’s operates a pre-school with an enroll- ment of 18-20 students. During the winter, St. Mary’s operates an emergency shelter for approximately 25 people over 55 years old. In the past few months, as local rents have skyrocketed, St. Mary’s reports seeing dramatic increases in the number of people using its services, particularly elderly homeless women. The Center is threatened, as their site is being considered as the location for a new Cathedral.

SAN PABLO HOTEL

With 144 studio apartments and a service, the San Pablo is one of a handful of programs nationally the provide both housing and medical/social services is one location for seniors with incomes under $25,000. East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) and Eden Housing, two nonprofit housing developers, rehabilitated the earthquake-damaged hotel and open the San Pablo in 1994. A third nonprofit - Center for Elders Independence-leases ground floor space for us its program of all-inclusive care for the elderly, providing medical care, home care, social services, rehabili
-tation, transportation, recreational therapy, and case management on-site.

GREYHOUND STATION

Originally called "The Union Stage Depot," the building has served as Oakland’s main bus station since 1926. California Transit was headed by Westly Elgin Trivis, described as "one of the major figures in the develop- ment of stage and bus transportation in the west." Originally a beaux Arts design with an octagonal dome painted with stars, the dome is now concealed by a drop ceiling. The building was remodeled in 1946 and again in 1951, closing off seven storefronts, adding signs and a speed-line canopy. Some of the original dome is visible through a few gaps in the dropped ceiling. The Greyhound station is included in the City’s "Uptown" area and may be part of the Forest City development.

The Samaritan Neighborhood Center

Located in the education building of the Oakland First Baptist Church, this after-school program benefits about 100 children from the area. These youth benefit from tutorial classes, gender-and age-specific peer groups, recreational programs, computer clubs, summer camps, choir, and a teen leadership program. Although the Center itself is not threatened by the proposed new development, many of the families served by its programs are at risk of being displaced. We see again how the children of the poor remain un-represented by those in the seats of power.

Hamilton Apartments

The former YMCA building was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earth- quake, and rehabilitated by Mercy Charities Housing California as 92 units of service-enriched housing for formerly homeless individuals. All units are subsidized through a project-based Section 8 program, which enables residents to pay 30 percent of their incomes for housing. Support services, coordinated by Mercy and by Corporation for Supportive Housing, include free health care, case management, peer counseling and employment training. Some residents have been hired as desk clerks at the Hamilton, providing them with job training and building their employment history.

Local 2850 and SEIU Local 250

The East Bay is part of a region that ranks as the wealthiest consumer market in the world. What kind of jobs would new downtown retail and entertainment development create for Oakland? How many hours would those employees have to work to afford a one-bedroom apartment?

To contact Just Cause Oakland or B.O.S.S. check the POOR's on-line Resource Page

by Leroy Moore

Happy birthday to Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, DAMO! DAMO turns four years old on March 30th, 2001. Party at St. Anthonys. 5-8pm. 121 Golden Gate in S.F.
For info please call: Leroy F. Moore Jr., Founder of Disability Advocates of Minorities Org.,
DAMO at (415)586-2047

by Charles Atkins ( Post Newspaper Group)

It was sad to see former UC Berkeley teacher, Ken Moshesh, facing his second charge after being arrested by a UC Berkeley officer for an October 27th “lodging” warrant. ( i.e., a warrant for sleeping or “lodging” outside)

Moshesh called the POST to attend his hearing this week after he had been charged with sleeping outside the stairless porch of an abandoned boarded up structure on January 18th owned by the First Presbyterian Church.

Moshesh was told that he had to appear on January 14th to see if charges had been filed, from the original incident, from which he was placed on probation, with the judge telling him that if he went back there again, the probation would restored.

In an interview outside the Berkeley Municipal court house, Moshesh said, “ If I don’t sleep outside there, I’ll be sleeping outside somewhere else. Then the same scenario will continue to occur until I’m back in jail. Why should I have to continue to justify my freedom simply because I sleep outside,” said Moshesh, “I am being criminalized for my homelessness when there is no where inside to go, decent or not. Perhaps it is also because I am outspoken in words, action and went to the media about this paradoxical situation in this land of promise and plenty. Moshesh continued, “did my homelessness also strip me of my freedom of expression along with my civil rights?”

This week Moshesh, who is also a staff writer for PoorNewsnetwork, was back in court with attorney Osha Neumann of Community Defense Inc, POOR Magazine editorial staff, and representatives from B.O.S.S., asking for permission to file a demurrer to the petition to revoke his probation. The case has once again been given another date, with the Public Defender saying that he doubts Moshesh will be sent to jail. Moshesh and his attorney would like to have the #647 statute defined so human beings are not criminalized for being homeless, on the grounds that it is a violation of human rights to penalize people for being poor. Neumann said Moshesh is one of the rare individuals who clearly understands the predicament of the homeless, and is willing to fight to get the state statute changed.

In a workshop last December, Berkeley Police Chief Dashchel Butler, while addressing the relationship between police and homeless people said “homelessness is a societal problem that cannot and should not be dealt with by police. He further said that police should be of aid to the homeless population by providing referrals to social services.

Although Berkeley police are considered much more humane than most in the Bay Area, reality is that they too have shown what some say is an appalling disregard for human life and dignity, as well as what some say is abuse of human rights of the home- less people.

As a Participant Observer and Staff writer at POOR Magazine, Ken Moshesh, Community Defense Inc. and POOR staff in coalition with several other civil rights and economic justice organizations such as BOSS, Street Spirit, Coalition on Homelessness, Women’s Economic Agenda Project, and Copwatch are attempting to overturn the existent “lodging” laws, i.e., the laws that facilitate the criminalization of poverty and homelessness in the U.S. based on their unconstitutionality. For more on this story, read Ken’s stories; Arrested Artistry and Arrested Artistry II; The Set-up Continues on www.poornewsnetwork.org/index

If you are interested in getting involved in this effort, please contact POOR at ( 415) 863-6306. or email poormag@sirius.com
The next court date of this precedent setting case is April 12 at Berkeley Municipal Court dept. 201

by Homeless People's Network)

Seventy percent of homeless people in Tokyo lost their jobs
through restructuring, and 80 percent want to find employment,
according to a white paper released Friday.

The report by the Tokyo metropolitan government is the first
ever published in Japan on the homeless.

Tokyo government officials in March last year surveyed 1,000
homeless people who were living in temporary housing, parks or
alongside rivers.

The number of homeless in Tokyo is 5,700, which is 1.7 times
higher than five years ago and accounts for 30 percent of Japan's
total homeless population, according to the report.

Fifty percent of Tokyo's homeless are in their 50s, while 90
percent of the homeless people in the capital are in their 40s,
50s or 60s, the report said. Ninety-eight percent of the homeless
are males.

Two-thirds of the homeless had held stable positions either
as company employees or as operators of their own businesses.
Ten percent of these people were white collar workers in management
or clerical positions, the report said.

The major reasons cited for being jobless were: resignation
(30 percent); lack of day labor (25 percent); dismissal (13 percent);
and sickness or injury (9 percent).

The Tokyo government concluded that 70 percent of the homeless
had been dismissed from their jobs.

The government next fiscal year will pump more resources into
providing support for the homeless, including increasing self-reliance
support centers.

**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**

by Joseph Bolden

p>I’m in my mom’s Fairfield apartment complex where I dutifully buy groceries, give money or borrow some, always paying her back soon as possible.

Yeah, I can hear both guys and women saying, "He’s a mama’s boy!" Not true. I’m a mama’s man. I believe most women like to know how men treat their mothers, sisters, their female friends, or if they have real platonic friendships, as guides to see how they themselves will be treated.

Ladies, full bodied, red blooded women... I LOVE MY MAMA, MOM, MOTHER and the MADONNA/WHORE COMPLEX is no problem of mine.

I wonder how many women love their father as I do my mom.

I FORGAVE MINE and hope he can do the same for me.

Back to Attorney General Ashcroft.
As I ate my chicken potpie, sipped a cool French vanilla-applejuice milkshake through a plastic straw, I saw our newly appointed Attorney General talking.

The redlined mute is on, but I have to hear what he is saying out of curiosity, not journalist objectivity.
"Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and all the king's horses and the king's men could put Humpty Dumpty together again."

I blink twice, turning up the volume. "Don’t ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee," or words to the effect. I’m paraphrasing Mr. Ashcrofs words.

My three pop-culture references were:a world war I ambulance driver; big game hunter, E. Hemmingway; Broderick Crawford’s corrupt politicians In All The King’s Men, a book, 1949 movie, and also a play.

As for the eggy fairy tale, it also sounds like faith based B.S. alluding to Government's helping less and increasing its right wing agenda more. I don’t know if Ashcroft’s a right wing God Squad cheering fanatic or a sincere politician honest in his views.

I am sure The Eternal would not like the God on or our side rhetoric that’s been spewed about of late.
That early morning political news can ruin one's appetite.

That’s my two day bit-o-freedom from work when I can get it, and it feels bountiful. Oh, to have five or more weeks of that bliss... But first get my life, work, words, to enable myself to... breathe.

Here’s the pitch. If you like any news items, columns, of Poor Magazine beside mine-Please do for them what Poor has done for me.

Send checks or M.O. to them or Joe c/o
Poor Magazine INC.
255 9th street
San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA

I-Net www.poormagazine.org
For Joe only snail mail
1230 Market St.
P. O. Box #645
S.F., CA. 94102